Living constructively, adapting, and outwitting the odds

Category Archives: documentation

I switched to a new insurance company that might provide dental care. I haven’t tried them on that yet, but I will. It’s on the agenda for this year. They want to pre-authorize my main neurological med, Savella. This is the main med that keeps my pain under some kind … Continue reading →

Here’s my Doctor Appointment Optimization strategy. This is especially important for new diagnoses, new doctors, and any significant change or comcern you have. – Between now and your appointment, keep a pad handy and note down anything you want to find out when you see the doc. – A day … Continue reading →

Chronic pain patients are often called Difficult Patients, when the casual cruelty and reflexive contempt of medicine and the ignorance of other people grates too hard against our increasingly impaired ability to compensate and deal with it as calmly and “rationally” as we used to. I’m less and less certain … Continue reading →

I collected health info on others for years. I’m what clinicians call “a good historian” — and in the health context, it means someone who can tell you exactly what happened to them and when it happened, and they turn out to be right. This is fine… as long as … Continue reading →

Doctors believe what they see.The training they get and the laws they must follow all reinforce that. If they see it themselves, then it’s real; if they only hear about it, it’s hearsay, which is much less believable. This is why it’s hard for us, as chronic pain patients with … Continue reading →

This is probably the simplest, most powerful tool for getting your complex care back into the realm of sanity. It’s easier said than done, but it’s worth it. More valuable than words can say. It’s a fairly simple 3-step process: Get copies of your medical records. Prepare: understand the records, get … Continue reading →

I’m filling out paperwork for these assessments. It’s a lot of homework, especially since they didn’t provide anything I could edit in softcopy. (Wait… how long have computers and the internet been around? Doesn’t the ADA require hospitals to provide access? … ok, never mind. Anyway.) I got to the usual … Continue reading →